


Stranded and Out of Time

by stellacanta



Series: Run Baby Run [1]
Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Attempted Rape/Non-Con, Case Fic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-18
Updated: 2018-02-05
Packaged: 2019-03-06 07:11:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 5
Words: 14,462
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13406097
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stellacanta/pseuds/stellacanta
Summary: Aaron Hotchner always hated cases involving omegas. They always turned out messy, and this one was no different.





	1. Chapter 1

Aaron picked up the steaming mug of coffee and took a sip. In the background of the local police department canteen, the TV was playing a news segment. In his hands, the report for the recent case they were assigned to crinkled in his hands. The clock on the wall seemed to echo throughout the room as the second hand continued its unending journey around its face.

“ _… In other news, researchers at Carnegie Mellon have devised a new chemical suppressor for Alphas of both sexes …_ “

The second hand thundered across the room.

“ _… The suppressor is said to mimic the pheromones that Omegas naturally give off. Scientists say that these Omega pheromones help to naturally relax Alphas …_ “

He took another sip of his coffee, before he set it down on the table with a light thud.

“ _… Now as viewers may realize, the US has one of the lowest Omega populations of any country in the world. Scientists hope that this new suppressor will help to alleviate symptoms of aggression amongst the Alpha population, while the Omega population slowly rebounds due to the recent law banning the practice of aborting potential Omega children, or killing Omega children when they present themselves during puberty …_ “

Aaron set down the papers in his hand onto the table as he grabbed a pen and began taking notes on the margins of the report.

“ _… Of course, until such a time that the new suppressor is marketed or the Omega population rebounds, officials have requested that all Omegas report to their local Omega center and that Alphas suffering from symptoms of aggression and territorialism request an appointment to …_ “

The TV was shut off with a click and Aaron looked up from the notes he was taking as an annoyed Rossi wandered into view. “I can’t believe you can stand listening to this crap, Aaron,” the older profiler said. “Everyone’s acting like the low Omega population is due to one or two parents preventing their Omega children from surviving to adulthood when everyone with a brain would realize that Omega numbers can’t possibly be as low as they are without a more systemic cause. I’m surprised that you didn’t turn it off earlier.”

Aaron stared blankly at the older profiler before he looked back at the papers in front of him. His amusement at the impassioned rant by the older profiler was barely kept in check. “It made for good white noise to help me keep my mind off the case.” Rossi’s expression fell somewhat and the older profiler looked to say something. Aaron nodded in the direction of an annoyed man chewing on a sandwich who sat in the back of the room they were in. “Besides, I think you’re annoying the locals by turning that off. It was on the news station when I got in here.”

He stared at Rossi until the older man sighed and turned the TV back on. By then, the news station had changed to a different story about a local arts fair to be held over the weekend. The two profilers ignored the grumbling from the back of the room. “So, you want to join us in the conference room then? JJ and Prentiss just got back from getting breakfast for the team.”

“Sure.” Aaron stood up and gathered all his things. “I’ll join you in a moment.” He picked up the coffee mug and finished the coffee inside before he followed Rossi to the conference room. As he left, he tried to pretend that the pill bottle in the bottom of his briefcase wasn’t jangling as loudly as it seemed to.

……

When Aaron and Rossi entered the conference room, Spencer was in the middle of one of his tangents. “-some cultures considered male Omegas to be a symbol of the divine, a body that could both nurture and beget life. In European cultures, it was thought that the king, who was almost always an alpha, was only fit to rule if they had a backing of both a female and male Omega. The two Omegas, together, were thought to represent the dual natures of motherhood, the nurturer and the guide, and that a king that did not have two Omegas was unfit to rule. Of course, when George Washington became the first president of the United States, he broke with tradition and took only one Omega as consort, a male one at that, and-“

“-so what do we know about the victims,” Aaron asked, cutting Spencer’s tangent short. He looked towards the white board that they had rolled towards the front of the room. Pictures of the victims had been pasted onto it. In the center was a map of the town they were in. Someone had threaded red string from the magnet that held up the pictures of the victims to the markers on the map.

“Well, we know that so far there have been four victims,” JJ started as she flipped through the papers in the folder she had in hand. “All four of them were male Omegas between the ages of 30-50.”

“Besides the fact that they’re all middle-aged Caucasian males with brown eyes and brown hair, there isn’t much of a link between them,” Emily continued from where JJ left off. Her hands were shoved in her pockets as she looked at the pictures on the white board. “The first victim, Robert Schmidt, was an English teacher at one of the local middle schools. David Hansen, the second victim, was a traveling photographer who just happened to be in the area. Arthur Weiss, the third victim, was an auto mechanic, and, the last victim, Leonard Dubois, worked as a bank clerk. None of them lived, or worked, close by each other at all, and there’s no indication that any of them knew each other.”

Spencer stood up from where he had been sitting on the edge of the conference room table. “What is clear is that our unsub has a type: middle-aged, male Omega with brown hair and eyes. From the injuries present on the bodies and the rope marks on their wrists and legs, it seems clear that our unsub is re-enacting some sort of sick sexual fantasy they have in their mind. It’s almost as if they were rejected by someone with those features and now they’re trying to recreate that moment with their victims.”

“Of course, reality can’t live up to fantasy, and, in their rage, they end up killing the victims.” Aaron flipped through the photographs in the folder that he had in his hand. One eyebrow raised when he took in the conditions of the bodies when they were found. “That would explain the multiple stab wounds that were the likely cause of death for all the victims. Then the unsub removed their hearts, possibly either to keep as a trophy, or to symbolize the heartlessness of the victims from their perspective.” He looked towards Morgan. “Do we have a geographic profile of the unsub yet?”

“It’s as Prentiss pointed out, the victims didn’t live or work anywhere close to one another. In fact, the first and fourth victim lived on opposite ends of town from one another. The bodies were found at their places of work, or in the second victim’s case, the hotel he was staying at. No traces of blood were found on the crime scene, which would indicate that the victims were killed elsewhere and then put there later by the unsub. Garcia is still digging through the victims’ social media accounts to see if there’s anything that might link them.”

Aaron nodded and looked at the map on the board. It was as had been pointed out, the markers weren’t in any specific region. There didn’t seem to be any pattern to the markers either. It was almost as if the victims had been chosen at random, but that wasn’t right either. There was obviously a pattern to the victims, even if there weren’t any links between them. His eyebrows furrowed. Just where was the unsub finding them?

He ran over the information that had been given. “You said the- fourth victim was a banker?” He looked towards Emily as he asked the question. Emily looked between her teammates and nodded. “Do we have any footage from the bank of the unsub or the vehicle that was used to transport the victims?”

“We- should, Hotch. I believe the bank probably has some camera system on its premises.”

“Take JJ with you and see if you can get the footage. That will give us something to work with.” Aaron frowned as he looked over the map and the victims. It would be one thing if all the victims were locals, but the second victim, David, had been from out-of-town.

“Reid, Morgan.” The two agents looked up when he called their names. “Go to the hotel where the second victim was staying at and see if anyone knew anything about him.” He squinted as the pictures of the victims. “Did they clean out the room he was staying in yet? He was killed about a week back wasn’t he?”

“Actually, it was four days back,” Spencer piped in. “They’re still treating the place his body was found dumped as a crime scene, but I can ask around and see if they still have his stuff somewhere. You’d think that it’s probably laying around somewhere as possible evidence.”

“You’d think.” Aaron grimaced to himself, he looked towards Rossi. “And we’re going to go and interview Mr. Dubois’ family.”

Rossi raised an eyebrow. “You think his family would know something?”

“I think that we don’t know anything right now, and we have to start somewhere if we want to find out why these men were targeted. Hopefully, before a fifth victim emerges.” Aaron looked back towards the map. “The victims are too similar for the unsub to just have snatched them from off the street. There’s an obvious pattern, and if there’s an obvious pattern, it means that these victims are linked to one another somehow. We just need to find that link, and fast.” He turned to give the rest of the team a look, almost as if to question why they were still there.

The team quickly got the message as they filed out of the room. JJ and Emily first, followed by Morgan and Spencer. Spencer turned around to look at Aaron when he reached the doorway of the room. His hands gripped the strap of his messenger bag tightly. “Hotch, I-“ Aaron looked towards him as he waited for Spencer to finish his thought, but he never did.

Morgan slapped a hand onto the younger profiler’s shoulder. “Come on, genius. We have some personal belongings to track down.”

Spencer pressed his lips tightly together and nodded. He glanced down at his feet before he looked up towards Aaron. “-I’ll tell you later I guess.” He looked about to say something else, but he gave Aaron a tight grin before he turned and left the room with Morgan.

“What was that about?” Aaron looked towards Rossi who was staring at him. He pressed his lips into a thin line.

“I don’t know, but I think I’m going to find out later.” He tossed the folder onto the conference room table and left the room with Rossi.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ... I swear these chapters aren't going to get longer as it goes.

The Dubois family lived in a quaint subdivision on the northeast corner of Galesburg. Squat Cape Cod and Ranch styled homes sat in front of neat lawns on the tree-lined street. A young boy on a bike rang his bell as he passed by the van.

Aaron checked and double checked the house number when they stopped in front of a yellow two-story house. 65 Marrow Rd. This was the address that was given for the family. He parked the van in front of it as both he and Rossi got out.

Rossi looked around when he slammed the door shut, before he turned towards Aaron, his arms outstretched. “You know, this house and neighborhood doesn’t exactly scream banker to me.” Aaron looked at him from out of the corner of his eyes. “The fourth victim was a banker right? Does this place scream banker to you?” He gestured towards the house and a pair of kids that were walking away from them, their eyes glued to a phone that one of them had in hand.

“Galesburg isn’t a very large town,” Aaron said as he walked along the path towards the entrance of the house. He eyed the neat landscaping and the tasteful front garden with bright orange and yellow flowers interspersed with leafy plants. “It’s possible that Mr. Dubois had only a modest salary and couldn’t afford anything more-“ He hesitated for a moment as he search for the right word. “-extravagant.”

Rossi scoffed and looked at the plants that lined the house and the path towards it. “I don’t know about you, but this place screams ‘married my high school sweetheart’ and ‘want to live a simple lifestyle’.” Aaron shot Rossi a flat look before he walked towards the front door and knocked on it. “Oh, don’t give me that look Hotch. Even your place was bigger than this house, and you work for the government. This is more of a place for someone who wants to fit in and not be noticed than someone who wants to show off how much they’re making.”

Aaron grimaced, but quickly schooled his expression into a calm, expressionless one when he heard the door being opened. Rossi had a point. For a banker, the house was quite unimpressive. It wasn’t even the biggest one they had seen so far. “C-can I help you?”

Aaron looked towards the frazzled-looking woman, her dark blonde hair pulled into a messy bun, and showed his FBI badge to her. Behind him, Rossi mirrored his action. “Hello, ma’am. I’m agent Aaron Hotchner and this is agent David Rossi. I was wondering if we could ask you a few questions about your husband, Leonard.”

“O-oh,” the woman looked between him and Rossi before she opened the door wider and stepped aside. “You had better come in then. Standing outside like that can’t be comfortable for the two of you.” She beckoned them inside and led the two to an old, rusty red couch. A delicate piece of crocheted cloth rested at the back of the couch. The woman sat down in a matching recliner next to them. “M-my name’s Joyce. What did you want to know about my husband?” She looked between them.

Aaron couldn’t help but notice the family pictures that lined the walls leading to the living room and on the side-tables and the mantle. All tastefully arranged, and not too many that would overwhelm whoever came to visit. He noticed that one of the photo frames next to him had a picture of the whole family: father, mother, daughter, and young son.

Rossi glanced at him while he looked at the photo before he cleared his throat and looked to the victim’s wife. His hands clasped together. “I guess I’ll start off. Mrs. Dubois-“

“-Joyce, please.”

Rossi paused and inclined his head briefly to acknowledge he had heard her. “Joyce. Before your husband’s disappearance, did you notice if he had been acting strangely or differently as of late?”

“Well, n-no.” Joyce looked between the two in concern, taken aback by the question. “Why would he- did you find something-“

“-just answer the question, ma’am,” Aaron interjected softly. “We are tracking your husband’s killer, and every bit of information helps us bring whoever they are to justice.”

Joyce looked to him, her eyes wide with worry, and she nodded. He couldn’t help but notice that she folded her hands together when she couldn’t get them to stop shaking. “I’ll- I’ll try.” She nodded again and looked down at her lap. “Leo was always a loving husband and father. He never had any bad habits or anything, gambling, smoking, drinking- oh sure he might have a glass or two after a particularly bad day, but nothing too excessive. Always came back straight home after work, and always called if he was staying late. W-when he didn’t come back home that day, and didn’t call to say that he would be staying late, I knew that something was wrong.” Joyce’s composure crumpled, and she began to cry. Aaron reached out to try to comfort her, but she shook her head and swiped at the tears in her eyes. “N-no it’s fine. I can continue. Was there anything else you wanted to know?”

“Did he have any rocky relationships with people at work or elsewhere in his life,” Aaron continued from where Rossi left off. He eyed a photo frame next to the one of the family he had spotted earlier. “Your- daughter plays soccer, it looks like?”

“Oh Cassie? Yes, she’s played soccer ever since she was a little girl.” Joyce had a fond smile on her face as she looked towards the picture Aaron was looking at. “Apple of her father’s eye she was.” She sniffled and wiped a tear away from an eye. “I- I can’t believe he’s gone now, and Cassie- Cassie’s taken the news the hardest, I think. They were always close. Ever since she was born, Leo was always enraptured with her. I remember when we brought her back home, Leo never complained about waking up in the middle of the night to her cries. Didn’t matter if it was some ungodly hour of night, he would always be awake and in her room in a flash. She was always calmer when he was around.” She sighed wistfully. “I don’t know how he did it. I always seemed to have a difficult time calming her down, but it seemed like Leo just had to touch her and she’d calm down immediately.”

Unnoticed by Joyce, Rossi and Aaron exchanged a look. Joyce continued to speak a moment later as she looked away from the picture towards Aaron. “He only has the usual complaints about his co-workers, how he’s underappreciated by people he works with. Nothing major.” A pause. “Now-now that I think about it though, Leo’s seemed a bit stressed out recently. He didn’t look too good on the day that he- that he disappeared. He looked a little feverish, but when I asked if he wanted to stay home-“

The front door slammed open with a loud bang at that moment. Aaron and Rossi looked towards the entrance as an enraged-looking 14-year-old stormed into the house. Joyce stood up when she saw her daughter enter the house. “Cassie!”

Cassie made a beeline for the stairs, either not having heard her mother or ignoring her. She stopped when she got to the base of the stairs, nostrils flared. Her eyes narrowed and she growled when she noticed the two agents in the living room with her mother. “Mom, what are these two doing in here?! I thought I told you not to let anyone in the house!” She stalked towards the two agents sitting on the couch. “Now get out, we have nothing to tell you two.”

Rossi held up his hands to appease the enraged teenager, but it was Aaron who cleared his throat and spoke. “Cassie was it?” He forced himself to meet her gaze calmly when she turned to glare at him. He forced himself to take deep breaths as he spoke. It was key to keep calm here, and not panic. “I’ve heard from your mother that you’ve been rather close to your father, and that you’ve taken his death badly. For what it’s worth, I’m sorry for your loss, but we had one last question before we leave.”

“And that question was?”

“You’ve probably seen the other three victims in the news. Did your father know any of those men?”

Cassie scoffed and gave a disbelieving look. “No? Why would dad know an English teacher from Galesburg South, a traveling photographer, and an auto mechanic?”

Aaron looked towards Joyce for confirmation. The woman gave a tense grin and shook her head. “No, none of those people were familiar and Leo’s never mentioned knowing any of them-“ A look of fear crossed the woman’s face. “Why would you think he knew them? They’re- they’re all omegas, we were both betas. Did- did the killer mistaken him for an omega? W-why would the killer think he was one of those sinful creatu-“

“-and we’re done here.” Rossi stood up suddenly, Aaron following a moment later. “It was a pleasure to meet you, Joyce.” He held out his hand for Joyce to shake, which she did after a moment of hesitation. He turned towards Cassie. “Cassie.” Cassie looked at his outstretched hand and back up to him with a look of pure disgust. “Right.” He let his hand fall. “You two have been a tremendous help to us, and we’ll try to keep you updated.”

“Thank you for stopping by,” Joyce responded in a soft tone as she led the two out of the house. Aaron didn’t miss the brief glance she gave her daughter beforehand. “I’m sorry for Cassie's behavior,” she said at the door. “She’s usually such a sweet girl, but, well after her father died.” She trailed off, unable to finish the thought.

“Don’t worry about it,” Aaron was quick to reassure her. “As you said, they were close, and she’s likely to have taken his passing badly.” Joyce sighed and thanked him for understanding. “If there’s one thing I might add though? I believe your daughter is presenting as an alpha. You may want to schedule an appointment with the local omega center before her temperament gets- worse.”

“Oh.” Aaron could see the confusion on her face as he bid her farewell and he and Rossi left for the van. The door to the house was closed by time they both got to the van.

“I can’t believe that woman,” Rossi said as he opened the van door to get in. “First, she doesn’t realize that her own husband is actually an omega, and then she has the gall to call them ‘sinful creatures’? Are we living back in the 17th century now? Actually, on that note, why would any self-respecting omega marry such a horrible woman?”

Aaron sighed as he got into the driver’s seat and started the van. “Some betas are scent blind and can’t tell when someone is an alpha or omega. They only know when it’s pointed out to them.” He looked around them, to make sure there weren’t any cars or people, as he merged onto the street. “Also, you mentioned yourself that this didn’t look like the house a banker would have.”

“Yeah?”

“What if Leonard Dubois wasn’t a ‘self-respecting’ omega? What if that was a shameful secret he wanted to hide?” The rest of the drive was spent in silence as they headed back to the police station.

……

“So what did we find out,” Aaron asked by way of greeting when he entered the conference room with Rossi.

Spencer looked up from where he was flipping through a worn journal. He looked back to the journal and let his hands fall onto the table. “Well, apparently our second victim had a journal. Nothing interesting, mostly just work-related things, but I did find an entry dated three days before his disappearance about getting something called ‘Teprah’ refilled.” Aaron stilled and looked at Spencer blankly. “As far as I know, ‘Teprah’ isn’t the name of any generic or name-brand drug on the market. Maybe, it’s a code name for some kind of illegal drug he was using? The entry also mentioned asking for Meg or Carter. Dealers, maybe?”

“Garcia called back and said that she found a potential link between our first and third victims,” Morgan said from where he was leaning over Spencer. “They were both registered to the same omega center on Gretchen and Elm. There’s three total omega centers in Galesburg that serves and town proper and the surrounding area. Maybe that’s where our unsub is finding the victims.”

Emily looked up from a printout she and JJ were looking over. “And we have a lead on the unsub. There was a camera pointed over where the unsub dumped the body and-“ She held up the printout and stared at it. “-I believe, we’re looking for an alpha, from the way he just drops the corpse gently on the ground, Caucasian male. It’s hard to see the inside of the van, but Garcia helped make the picture a bit clearer.” She handed the printout over for Aaron and Rossi to look at. “The license plate numbers are a bit smudged, but I’ve written down what I think it might be on the bottom.”

Aaron looked down at the printout, the colors and contrast adjusted a bit to make the image of the unsub clearer. He nodded. “So, we’re looking at an alpha, Caucasian male between the ages of 40-60. Ex-military from the way he knew to keep away from cameras.” He looked up at his team. “JJ, Rossi, tomorrow, you two should go down to the omega center Garcia dug up and see if they noticed anything suspicious. For now-“ He sighed and put the printout down on the table in the middle of the room. “-has anyone given thought as to where we should be getting dinner?”

“Chinese,” Morgan suggested with a smirk. “Hopefully, it’s a place that has forks so that Reid can actually eat his chow mein.” He ducked out of the way of the hand he saw coming for him.

Rossi cleared his throat. “Actually, apparently there’s a small Italian place here that I wanted to try out. According to reviews the food is excellent, but-“ He gestured towards himself. “-well, we’ll see how it compares to _my_ cooking.” A chuckle went up through the team as they slowly left the room.

A hand on Aaron’s arm made him stop. He turned around to see Spencer looking at him. “Um, Hotch? Could I have a moment please?” Aaron turned to look at Rossi, who shrugged and left the room.

He looked back to Spencer. “Is this about what you wanted to tell me earlier today?”

“Yes, um-“ Spencer fidgeted for a moment and it took him a while to gather his thoughts. “-it’s about the case actually. I- uh, I know you don’t like these sorts of cases.” A pause. “Especially, since we got it after another case just like this.”

Aaron gritted his teeth and looked away from Spencer. Cases involving omegas were always tough, this one and the last one had been no different. If he closed his eyes, he could still see the pleading face of the omega unsub they had put away. Andrew Turner was young, only 20-years-old, and he wished that the system hadn’t failed him as badly as it did. (So much so that he felt like he had no choice, but to take things into his own hands.)

He looked back when he felt the hand on his arm give him a gentle squeeze. “Do you think that you’ll be okay, Hotch?”

He breathed out. “Yeah.” He quirked his lips up in a mockery of a smile that he could not feel. “Yeah, I’ll be fine. Thanks for asking.” He reached over to give a light squeeze to Spencer’s shoulder. “Now, come on, I don’t think the team is willing to wait for us for very long, and we’ll be left behind if we stay for much longer.”

“Hotch. One more thing.”

Aaron stopped walking towards the doorway and looked back. “Yes?”

Spencer was fidgeting again. “Could you- err, is it okay if I switch places with Rossi tonight, and stay with you at the hotel?”

Aaron’s expression fell. “Did something happen between you and Morgan?”

“No! No, just err-“ Spencer rocked back on the balls of his feet and breathed out. “-wanted to catch up is all. We haven’t talked in a while, err, alone that is. Um, is it okay?”

He should have said no. He should have pressed Spencer on why he couldn’t room with Morgan all of a sudden. What he absolutely should not have said was- “Sure. It has been a while since we’ve talked- alone. I’ve missed our chats.”

“R-really?” A brilliant smile spread on Spencer’s face, and suddenly Aaron couldn’t find it in himself to take those words back. He pressed his lips into a thin line, if only to keep himself from mirroring that smile. Well, in for a penny, in for a pound.

“Yes, really.” The smile on Spencer’s face only grew wider as the two left the room, and Spencer quickly falling into a tangent on the prevalence of Italian food in the country.

(Just what had he gotten himself into?)


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes on imprinting: Imprinting is the way that young alphas bond to their omega parents (or vice versa). It's meant for the children to recognize their parents and not attack them when they begin to present as alpha or omega. It also allows the parent to calm the child and ease the pains that come with presentation.

When Aaron woke up the next day, he could sense that something was wrong. He felt warm, but not feverishly so, and there was an uncomfortable sensation deep within his gut. He groaned and shifted his weight, but found that he couldn’t move very far. There was something pressed up against his back, or rather someone. When he tried to move forward, their arms tightened around him.

He froze when he heard Spencer moan behind him. Then, the younger man pressed close against him and began to nuzzle his neck. Aaron barely muffled a gasp when he felt lips press and move against the spot where his shoulder met his neck. He closed his eyes when he heard Spencer made a frustrated noise and move his mouth higher up his neck.

It was almost as if he was searching for something. Aaron had a sinking feeling he knew what the younger man was searching for though. He elbowed Spencer sharply in the gut when he felt teeth graze against the skin on his neck, right above where his scent glands would be. Spencer let out a soft whine and his arms instinctively let go of their grasp around his midsection.

Aaron quickly scuttled to the other end of the bed they were sharing. He heard Spencer make a soft noise in his sleep before he rolled over to the other side. He sighed and felt himself slowly begin to relax. Just what had happened to cause Spencer to curl up against him like that overnight?

He ran over what had happened the previous night. They had gone directly to the hotel after dinner. Neither of them had been drinking. Once they had gotten to their room, they had talked about work and life. Jack had come up as a topic of conversation when he went to have his nightly phone call with his son. Then they had gone to sleep.

Spencer had given no indication last night that he had wanted something more with him. Their conversation had been easy and cordial, so why did he wake up with Spencer curled around him?

He grunted softly into his pillow when his belly began to ache. He slipped an arm and a leg from out underneath the covers when they began to feel too warm and suffocating. He froze. Discomfort in his abdomen, feeling too warm, waking up to Spencer curled around him, could it be?

Gingerly, he felt around his inner thighs and hissed when the skin there came away slightly moist. No. It couldn’t be happening to him. It wasn’t the right time to. The cycle wasn’t supposed to start until two weeks later when he had requested break time. He rubbed his fingers together. They were moist and slightly sticky. It really was happening.

 His brain blanked, and then he remembered the pill bottle in his briefcase. One pill would take care of everything. He tore the blankets off him and all-but-ran towards the desk where they had been sharing notes the night before. He hoped that he wasn’t making too much noise, but he knew he was if the groaning from the bed was any indication.

“Hotch?”

Aaron didn’t say a word as he grabbed the pill bottle out from the bottom of the briefcase and, as quietly as he could, walked towards the kitchenette.

Spencer moaned when he flipped on the night. “Hotch? Is everything okay?”

Behind him he could hear Spencer sit up and bed. He shook a pill out of the bottle and filled a cup with water. He didn’t say anything when he swallowed down the pill and capped the bottle. He jumped when he felt Spencer place a hand on his shoulder. Apparently, he hadn’t heard Spencer get out of bed and walk over in his panic. “Hotch? What’s going on?”

Aaron turned to face Spencer with a weak grin on his face in an attempt to reassure him. It was clear from Spencer’s facial expression that he wasn’t buying it. With one hand, he carefully covered the label of the pill bottle with a thumb. “Yeah, everything’s fine.” A weak pause as Spencer waited for him to explain. “I, um-“ He quickly glanced towards the pill bottle and then back towards Spencer with a pained look on his face. “-blood pressure meds. The doctor found that they were too high last time I visited, so I’ve been put on them. I forgot to take them last night.”

“O-oh.” Spencer shot him a baffled look, but didn’t press him any further on it. “I didn’t know you took blood pressure meds.”

“No one else does, so not much of a surprise there.”

There was an unreadable expression on Spencer’s face, but the younger man nodded and let go of his shoulder. “You should come back to bed then. It’s four in the morning and we have to get to the station by 6:30. The boss is a bit of a hardass you understand.”

Aaron chuckled weakly. “So I’ve heard.” He looked at Spencer’s departing back. “I’m sorry, by the way, for waking you like that. I should have been quieter about it.” Spencer just waved him off as the younger man slipped back under the covers and went back to sleep.

……

Later in the day, Aaron couldn’t help but wonder if he shouldn’t have just called in sick, instead of trying to tough it out for the day. He felt awful, and it was clear that the others had noticed if the looks from Spencer and Morgan’s frequent questioning was any indication. “I’m fine,” he said for what felt like the twentieth time that day to Morgan’s question. “I’m just a bit stressed out from the case.”

Morgan raised an eyebrow. “Stressed out already, Hotch? It’s only been two days since we’ve taken this case.” Aaron gave his subordinate a flat stare in response. “Well, okay, there was the other case before this one, but are you sure you don’t want to take the day off? We’re just waiting for JJ and Rossi to get back from their interview with people down at the omega center.”

“I wonder if they’ll find anything though,” Spencer interjected from where he sat on an office chair staring at the white board. He was playing with a pen as he swiveled the chair from side to side. “We know that the first and third victim were registered at that center, and the second victim might have stopped by there since he was visiting. The hotel isn’t all that far from the center, but what about the fourth victim? Garcia checked, and Leonard Dubois wasn’t registered at _any_ of the local omega centers. I mean, it could be that he visited the center on the sly, but centers are supposed to serve those that are registered at them first. Why would the fourth victim not register if he lived in the area?” Spencer looked up towards the other two men as if they could brainstorm an answer between them.

Aaron cleared his throat the moment it looked like Morgan was about to answer. “I have the answer to that one actually.” Both Spencer and Morgan looked towards him. “When Rossi and I went to interview his wife yesterday, it was clear that Mrs. Dubois wasn’t aware her husband was an omega.”

“Wait, what? How? Wouldn’t the-“

“-Mrs. Dubois was an beta, likely scent blind. She didn’t seem aware that her alpha daughter had imprinted upon her omega husband either, and just brushed it off as a normal, close father-daughter relationship. It’s very likely that the fourth victim was trying to hide the fact that he was an omega, the wife didn’t seem to have a very high opinion of omegas. Registering at a local center would have given it away.”

Morgan seemed thoughtful as he absorbed the new information. He raised an eyebrow and gestured towards Spencer. “Well, Reid’s point still stands doesn’t it? If the fourth victim was trying to hide the fact that he was an omega, it’s also very likely that he never visited the omega center. So, our unsub couldn’t have been finding his victims there.”

A message indication went off on Aaron’s phone right that moment. In lieu of answering Morgan’s question, he looked at the message that was sent. “Yes, but that’s not the only possible connection we’re pursuing right now.” He looked up at his phone towards Emily who was listening into the conversation, but not offering her thoughts. “Prentiss?”

“Yes, Hotch?”

“The toxicology reports for the victims are done. Could you go and collect them?”

“Yeah, sure. Where’s the-“ Her phone beeped and she flipped through the recent messages. She grinned at what she saw on the screen. “-thanks for sending the address, Hotch. I’ll be right back with the reports.”

“Toxicology reports huh?” Spencer had an amused grin on his face.

Aaron nodded. “I thought of it when you mentioned that the second victim was on Teprah. The unsub could have drugged the victims before tying them up. Besides the rope marks on the victim’s arms and legs, there was no sign of bruising or the victim fighting back. While it’s possible that all four victims would have willingly let the unsub tie them up, I think it’s more likely that he drugged them beforehand. Possibly when he abducted them.”

Morgan nodded. “Well, assuming that we find Teprah in all four victims. Do you think that is how the unsub was targeting the victims? By doctoring whatever it was they were taking?”

“If that’s the case, then I’d like to get my hands on this Meg and Carter.” Spencer stopped swiveling in his chair and sat up straighter as he spoke. “Maybe they’re assisting the unsub in targeting his victims.”

Aaron could hear his heartbeat being to race at the mention of the drug. He blinked and hoped his co-workers wouldn’t notice how tense he had become since Morgan had brought it up. Carefully, he schooled a blank expression on his face as he looked between Morgan and Spencer. He tried not to think about the bottle of pills in his briefcase. “Well, we’ll just have to wait for Prentiss to come back with the-“ He gripped the edge of the table and closed his eyes when he felt a wave of dizziness overtake him. (He had known something like this would happen. He really should have taken the day off.)

“Hotch!” Spencer stood up and steadied him when he swayed dangerously forward.

There was a scowl on Morgan’s face as he reached over to place a hand on Aaron’s back. “Okay, you are definitely not okay, Hotch. Stop pretending you are. Go take the day off, and see a doctor or something.”

Aaron waved the two off. “It’s fine. I’m probably just tired. I was planning on stopping by a local clinic or something later today-“

Spencer exchanged a look with Morgan. “Where was this local clinic? I could probably drop you off-“

“No!” Morgan and Spencer looked shocked at Aaron’s outburst. “I mean, it’s fine, you two. I don’t want to trouble you, and JJ and Rossi should be due back any moment. You two stay here, and I’ll get a bus to drop me off at the clinic.”

Spencer and Morgan exchanged another glance. Morgan broke the exchange first and looked towards Aaron as he grabbed his things and began to walk out of the room. “Are you sure-“

“-yes. I’ll be fine. Stay here.”

Neither of them followed when Aaron left the room.

“So, I guess Aaron really was stressed out about this case huh?”

“It seems so.”

……

Aaron wished he had thought to bring a book or something else to distract himself when he sat in the waiting room of the doctor’s office. None of the magazines that were laid out on the tables around the room looked appealing to him. The TV in one corner of the room was currently showing a local news channel.

There were five other people in the waiting room with him. Two men sat opposite to the door to the doctor’s office. The taller of the two, most likely the alpha of the pair, had his arms wrapped around the other’s shoulder and midsection. Aaron watched as the man would alternate between watching the news stories and leaning down to murmur quiet reassurances to his partner. Next to the TV, there was a teenaged girl slumped in a chair, earbuds stuck in both ears and lazily browsing through whatever she was looking at in her smart phone. Two chairs down from the teenaged girl, a nervous-looking college student alternated between doing her homework and looking towards the door to the doctor’s office. Occasionally, she would crane her neck to look up at the TV. A few chairs down from him, a middle-aged man in a suit read through book he had brought with him.

Aaron sighed, it seemed that everyone else had brought something to make the wait go easier, except for him.

“ _-and now we have two researchers with us who helped to develop the new miracle drug._ ”

He looked up at the TV which was showing a young man and woman standing next to each other. The young man seemed to have a perpetual scowl on his face and the young woman looked as if she would rather be anywhere but where she was. The tagline beneath their faces revealed them to be researches from Carnegie Mellon.

“ _Margaret Walsh and Fred Whitmeyer are two researchers who worked on the team to develop the drug. Now, tell us, Margaret and Fred, what made you decide to look into a suppressor for alphas?_ ”

There was a pause as the two blinked and nodded along to the question. It was Margaret who spoke first, a nervous smile plastered on her face. “ _Ah, well actually the idea came from Te-_ “

She was sharply elbowed by her fellow researcher before she could finish the thought. Aaron could feel the moment when everyone in the room looked to the TV screen. “ _-the way that young alphas would imprint upon their omega parent, and how the calming pheromones from that parent would ease their presentation-_ “

“-Say Teproxol, you coward!” Aaron turned his head to find the alpha of the pair from before screaming his head off at the TV screen. “You got the idea from the formulation for Teproxol, so just say it already!”

“Except she won’t because she’s a coward,” the teenager interjected. “Doesn’t want to get kicked out of her fancy-pants school by saying she got the idea from Teproxol!”

“That’s right!”

The door next to the receptionist’s desk opened right at that moment and a man with short brown hair stepped out. Aaron couldn’t get a good look at the man’s face, but he could tell he was annoyed by the way his shoulders were tensed and he was looking away from the room. He muttered something underneath his breath, but Aaron only caught ‘-idiots should shut up about things they know nothing about-“ when the man passed him.

There was a nurse in blue scrubs that followed the man out. The nurse stood at the doorway and grabbed a folder off the wall and read the name on it. “Aaron Hotchner?” The nurse smiled when he looked up. “Follow me please. Dr. Reynolds will be seeing you now.”

……

Aaron stood at the bus stop waiting for the bus to arrive. He and an old, black man sitting on the bench were the only ones there. His companion hummed to himself, looking at seemingly everything and nothing, as Aaron unfolded the piece of paper in his hands.

He read over the neatly printed words on the paper, his mind still thinking back to the discussion he had with the doctor. It was a prescription for Tepranone. The brand name for the drug was Prana. He was to get it at the pharmacy on the corner of Gretchen and Kelly from either Carter or Meg. (That was one mystery solved. He wasn’t sure how to communicate it to the team, however.)

Tepranone was a newer suppressant that was meant to be a replacement for the one he was taking. It wouldn’t linger in his body the way the one he was currently taking would, but that just meant that he would have to take it every day instead of once every four days. It wouldn’t be strong enough to completely eliminate the week of discomfort he could be looking forward to, but it would ease off the worst of it.

He scowled as he remembered the doctor’s words to throw away the suppressants he currently had. Aaron folded up the prescription and slipped it into his pockets. It wasn’t very likely that he would get rid of his current supply. It might have comparatively more severe side effects, but missing one or two days wouldn’t mean the difference between drowning the office in pheromones or being able to get by relatively unnoticed.

His phone beeped right as the bus arrived. Aaron opened the phone and nearly dropped it when he read the new messages from Spencer.

‘ _All the victims had Teproxol in their bloodstream.’_

_‘That must be what Teprah is short for.’_

“Oh no.” Aaron quickly got onto the bus and paid his fare. When he found a seat near the front and the bus doors closed, he could only hope that the bus would get to his stop quickly. (He tried not to think about the prescription that seemed to be burning a hole in his pocket.)


	4. Chapter 4

When Aaron entered the conference room, JJ’s voice was the first thing he heard. “Wait, if this drug is so dangerous, then why do omegas go through so much trouble to obtain it? No one at the omega center could tell us anything about Teprah, but one of the omegas in the waiting room said that it was some kind of suppressant. An illegal one, but one that wasn’t inherently dangerous. I have a hard time believing that we would be told that if it was some kind of secret omega killer.” Aaron tried not to wince at how loud she was speaking and made sure that the door was closed shut behind him. The last thing they needed was for someone to walk past at the exact wrong moment.

“JJ, you don’t understand,” Spencer replied, his hands gesticulating wildly. “They did a study on the effects of teproxol on omegas. Five of the omegas in the study _died_ , JJ. The rest were left _sterile_ and with serious side effects like trouble breathing and chest pains. This is seriously nasty stuff that no omega should be touching as far as I’m concerned.”

“It’s also illegal to disseminate any information about teproxol,” Aaron cut in before JJ had a chance to respond. “Or any other topics related to omega suppressants and omega reproduction through the postal office, interstate commerce, or telecommunications.” The entire team looked towards him as he spoke. Spencer, he noticed, gaped like a fish when he spoke. He affixed his gaze on him. “Reid, I seriously hope that you didn’t find out that information online or had someone send you a paper, because it’s illegal and I’ve seen several people get arrested for it.”

“What?! No, I read about it in a book at the public library in Las Vegas. It talked about the differences between the sexual development of alphas and omegas. There was a section in there on the development of teproxol and the results of the trials they did.” Spencer looked towards Aaron as the older man walked over to Emily, who handed him copies of the toxicology reports. A look of shock warred with annoyance on his face. “Why would I get arrested for something that I read in a book?”

“Well, if that book was bought or sold over state lines, or if the library got it shipped to them.” Aaron trailed off menacingly as Spencer scoffed. He ignored the younger man as he quickly scanned through the results. “Reid, you have a PhD in chemistry.”

“Yeah? Want me to tell you how bad teproxol is for omegas?”

Aaron looked towards Spencer with a completely blank expression on his face. “No, I was wondering if you knew what alprabinol was.”

Spencer’s eyebrow knitted together. “Alprabinol?” His voice raised at the end, almost as if the younger man didn’t believe what he had said. “Yeah, isn’t that an estrus inducer?”

“A what inducer?” Morgan had his arms crossed against his chest and a scowl on his face as he asked the question. “Mind explaining that for the rest of us, Reid?”

“A- oh for crying out loud, estrus! You know heat?” Spencer spun around the room as he watched looks of realization slowly form on everyone’s face. (Everyone except for Aaron that was.) “Alprabinol causes omegas to enter heat within minutes of ingesting it.” A thoughtful look crossed his face. “It’s also impossible to get on the street, distribution of it is highly regulated and restricted to medical settings, like hospitals, where they’re used to induce heats in omegas under supervision. No pharmacy will carry them, and each dosage is tracked from creation to usage.”

Emily perked up when Spencer mentioned that the drug was highly regulated. “Restricted to hospitals? Doesn’t that mean that it should be easy to track down then? Maybe the unsub is getting it from one of the local hospitals. If it’s being as tracked as thoroughly as Reid implies it is, then it shouldn’t be hard to find a possible culprit.”

Aaron nodded. Emily brought up a good point. He frowned and turned back to look at the whiteboard in the back of the room. There were two hospitals in the town of Galesburg: Galesburg Community Hospital and Thorn River Regional Hospital. He tapped a finger at the location of each hospital as it had been marked on the map. The location of the victims seemed to form a rough ring around Galesburg Community. He grimaced and turned to JJ. “Can you get into contact with anyone at Galesburg Community Hospital? I think that might be where our unsub is getting his access to Alprabinol.” When JJ didn’t immediately respond, he was about to ask whether she had heard the question or not. Aaron stopped when he noticed that JJ had her phone out and was frowning at something on the screen.

“About that, Hotch,” JJ said finally after a long pause. She looked from her phoned and regarded him with a tired expression on her face. “It seems our unsub left a body at Galesburg Community Hospital. It looks like we’re going to have to contact them regardless.”

……

The latest victim was a nurse, 26 years of age, and, as with the other victims, a male omega. Aaron stepped gingerly around the corpse, careful to avoid stepping on the small pools of blood that had formed around the victim. The first thing he noticed was that there were few bloody gashes on the victim’s abdominal region. However, the gashes were deep and would have likely killed the victim before long. He knelt down and frowned when he noticed that there were several long, jagged cuts on the back of the victim’s hands and arms, almost as if the victim had been trying to defend himself.

The victim was arranged with his legs open, revealing the injuries to his perineum and anus, his arms were crossed against his chest and his eyes were open. Aaron frowned. None of the other victims had been arranged so neatly, and none of the other victims had signs of fighting back. The frown deepened when he glanced over the victim’s face. It seemed familiar somehow, as if he had encountered the victim around town somewhere. He racked his head but couldn’t come up with where he might have encountered the man. Aaron looked up when he heard Spencer clear his throat.

“Chase Mueller. 26 years of age, and a nurse at Galesburg Community Hospital.” Spencer tiled his head and made a small noise. “The unsub hasn’t gone after anyone under the age of 30 so far, so what changed?”

“Or has nothing changed and is Mr. Mueller just special somehow?” Aaron looked down at the victim and gestured towards the way the body was arranged. “Our victims to date have all just been dumped in a heap somewhere, but Mr. Mueller was carefully arranged. Also, there’s this-“ He pointed one gloved finger at the victim’s wrist. “No rope marks. It also looks like victim was defending himself. Note the extensive injuries to the arms and hands, but the fewer injuries to the abdomen.” Aaron looked up at Spencer.

“Huh, you’re right.” Spencer knelt down besides him. “The rope marks- all of the victims so far have had them, but there’s none on this guy.” Aaron watched as Spencer slowly began to piece the information together. “Also, the victim was a nurse who worked in this hospital. He’s even wearing scrubs, so he must have gone in for work today. If no one noticed anything was amiss until now, the unsub couldn’t have had long from when the victim either got off of work or had a break to act. Also the lack of rope marks-“ Spencer looked towards Aaron with wide eyes. “-Hotch, the unsub and the victim must have been very close with each other if the unsub didn’t feel like he had to tie the victim up.”

“Either that or he killed him somewhere he knew the unsub wouldn’t be able to run from. Like a vehicle.”

There was a moment of silence as Spencer digested his words. “You think that the unsub is here?”

Aaron didn’t say a word as he stood up and fired off a quick text to JJ. He frowned when he got a reply moments later. “Possibly, we should join up with the team inside. It seems that they might have found something.” Spencer stood up as Aaron wordlessly slipped his phone into his pocket and walked towards the entrance of the hospital. He gave the victim one final look before he followed Aaron away from the crime scene.

……

Spencer and Aaron joined JJ and Rossi at a nurse’s station inside the hospital. A few feet away from them, Morgan was talking in quiet, but stern tones with a blonde man in a lab coat. “Is that the guy then?” Spencer nodded his head towards the man, who was tall with a muscular frame that was easily visible from beneath the coat.

“Yep.” JJ turned back to look at Spencer as she spoke. “Wonderful character too. Apparently, Dr. Evan Roberts got into a pretty big fight with our victim before he left work today. The victim got along with pretty much everyone in the hospital, except for the guy you’re looking at right now. Supposedly, Dr. Roberts has also been ‘busy’ today, although no one can pinpoint for sure where he was around the time the body was found.” JJ turned back right in time to watch as Morgan and Dr. Roberts raised their voices and began to argue with one another in earnest.

“You said our victim left work today. When did his shift end?” Aaron glanced towards JJ as he puzzled together what she had revealed.

“9 AM. He also had another 8-hour shift starting at 1 PM today.”

Aaron opened his mouth to ask another question when a man with graying hair stepped in to separate Morgan and Dr. Roberts from one another. He looked towards JJ. “Whose that?”

It was Rossi who answered him. “That’s Dr. Samuel Thompson, apparently he and our victim were very close.”

“-Sam, you’d better not be implying that I killed your little boyfriend because we didn’t get along!” Aaron raised an eyebrow at the words that Dr. Roberts shouted at Morgan and Dr. Thompson who seemed to be holding him back. The fifth victim and Dr. Thompson must have been very close indeed. He watched as Dr. Roberts advanced on the two. “So what if Chase and I butted heads all the time, doesn’t mean that I’m going to off him like that. Heh, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say that Chase got off on all the arguments that we were having.”

“Evan, that’s enough,” Dr. Thompson told the other doctor sternly. “I won’t have you talking about Chase like that, especially now that he’s dead.” Aaron watched as Dr. Roberts stepped right in front of Dr. Thompson and said something in a low voice. Something which caused Dr. Thompson to snarl and shove Dr. Roberts harshly away from him. The taller man laughed mockingly at the shove and walked away. Aaron watched as Morgan walked towards them.

“Unfortunately, I don’t think that Dr. Dickwad over there is our unsub,” Morgan said as he stopped in front of the group. “Don’t get me wrong, he’s a jerk and there was definitely bad blood between him and our fifth victim, but he doesn’t know anything about the other victims. Also, he doesn’t have access to the Alprabinol supplies. He’s a trauma surgeon, not an omega health specialist.”

“Ergo, he wouldn’t have access to them even if he wanted to,” Aaron couldn’t help but add.

“Exactly.”

“Well.” Everyone turned to look at Spencer when he spoke. “I don’t think it would have been Dr. Roberts anyway. Didn’t you say that the two had bad blood?”

Morgan frowned and nodded. “Yes, everyone in the ward knew that those two didn’t get along.”

“That’s the thing though. The fifth victim was arranged very carefully, in a way that suggested that the unsub was fond of him in particular. Remember, the other victims were just dumped somewhere, but this guy wasn’t. We’re not looking for someone who hated the fifth victim’s guts, no we’re looking at a potential lover here.”

Aaron’s phone rang right at that moment and he quickly glanced at the caller ID before answering it. “Hotchner speaking.”

“Hey Hotch,” Emily said from the other end. “I just got done with interviewing the victim’s family. As you can expect, he didn’t know any of the other victims and they can’t think of anyone who might want to harm him in such a way. No jealous exes, no stalkers, nothing.”

“Did you ask if the victim had a girlfriend or boyfriend? Was it someone who worked at the hospital?”

There was a pause. “I- did actually. Apparently, the victim was seeing someone name Al Torres. The thing is, Mr. Torres was apparently an omega literature student at the local university. The victim wasn’t seeing someone from work.”

Aaron closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Chase Mueller hadn’t been seeing someone from work. He had been seeing a literature student from the local university, one that just so happened to be an omega. He thought back to the outburst that he had just witnessed and his mind slowly began to form a theory. “Thanks Prentiss,” he said after a long moment. “We’ll see you back at the station.”

When he ended the call, he found the group staring at him. “Well,” Morgan asked.

He shook his head. “Chase Mueller was seeing an omega literature student, not someone from the hospital. Whoever the unsub is, he wasn’t in a relationship with the fifth victim.” He watched as the team mulled over the news. He sighed and slipped his phone back into his pockets. “Let’s head back to the station, we can go over the new information back there.”

Aaron stayed by the nurse’s station when everyone started to leave. Spencer noticed that Aaron hadn’t moved and was looking at something in the distance. “Hotch?”

Aaron turned towards the youngest member of the team and shook his head. “Go ahead with everyone else Reid. I have something I want to confirm first.” He started walking away from the team.

“Hotch!”

“I’ll join you guys later!”

Spencer turned as if to follow Aaron, but he was stopped by Morgan. He turned to ask what the other profiler thought he was doing, but Morgan only shook his head. “Let him go do what he needs to do, Reid. Hotch can take care of himself.”

Spencer wanted to disagree with him. He wanted to argue that going off alone like that was stupid. He didn’t though. He nodded and gave a weak okay. He turned to take a look at Aaron’s departing back one last time, before he followed Morgan and the rest of the team out. (He tried to swallow the bad feeling he had about Aaron leaving the group down, but was only partially successful.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We are quickly coming to a close of this fic. Just one more chapter and we should be done.  
> (Sorry for the delay in getting this chapter up, I had hoped to get it done by yesterday, but the chapter took a bit longer than expected to write.)


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heed the warning update.

The omega health ward of the hospital was on the third floor, hidden in a maze of corridors and unmarked doors. Aaron got lost more than a few times and had to ask a passing nurse or doctor if he was going the right way. He would usually get a pitying look, a wry off-handed comment about how the hospital really did not seem to want people finding that particular ward, and then be pointed in the right direction. Most of the people he asked for directions seemed to want to help, but he noticed that a good handful reacted with disgust and exasperation to the question. Something that was only to be expected.

In the end, he found himself in front of an unmarked door near the end of a hallway. He frowned and looked around. This was the second-to-last door on the left, where a passing nurse said the ward would be. Aaron turned to look back at the door. It was a plain wooden door that looked to be made of the same light oak as the other doors in the hallway. There was no sign on, or by, the door that would indicate it was for the omega health ward. He looked through the vertical window on one side of the door, a receptionist was talking away on the phone behind a large rounded counter in the center of the room. He opened the door and walked into the waiting area.

The receptionist, a middle-aged woman with lightly tanned skin and short, dark hair, didn’t look up as he entered the room and walked towards the counter. He noticed there were two rows of plastic chairs, one along each side of the rom. Besides him and the receptionist, there were two other people in the room: an elderly woman who was knitting something, and a young woman of Asian descent who stared blankly at the wall across from her. Aaron was the only man in the room.

He cleared his throat when the receptionist put the phone down. She slowly looked up at him with tired eyes and an unimpressed expression on her face. “Can I help you sir?” It was clear from her tone and her body language that she did not want to be here. She didn’t look past him towards the clock on the wall every few seconds, but he could read it in the tension in her shoulders and the way her hands were lightly clenched together.

The receptionist did not look like she would take too kindly to him flashing his FBI badge and asking her questions. If Aaron wanted to get the information he was after, a bit of duplicity was in order. He gave the woman a wane smile. “I had an appointment with Dr. Sandra Reynolds recently, and she mentioned that she wanted me to get some secondary screening. I’ve been taking teproxol for a while now, and she was worried that it might have had an adverse impact. My, uh, estrus cycle seems to have become unpredictable recently.”

The receptionist nodded and looked to the side to grab a few forms for him to fill. “Can’t say that’s surprising. It has some pretty significant long-term effects, and it’s advised that you rest for two weeks between courses of teproxol so the levels don’t get too high in your body.” She stopped to look at one of the forms that she had pulled out of a pile. A grimace formed on her face a moment later and she shook her head as she put the form she had been looking at away. “Of course, most omegas don’t take that break in taking their medication, and, well, sometimes it doesn’t cause problems, and sometimes it does. Dr. Reynolds sends a lot of her patients here for secondary screening, actually.”

Aaron watched as the receptionist busied herself looking through the papers bunched in neat stacks. This was the first time he had heard that Dr. Reynolds was referring her patients to this hospital. “Dr. Reynolds does this often huh?”

“Oh, yes. A lot of her patients come in for secondary screenings.” The receptionist looked up as she placed all the papers she had gathered together on a clipboard. “In fact, I remember the last guy she referred to us. Nice guy, but a bit twitchy. I think he worked as a banker? Oh, there was also the traveling photographer from a week ago, and that one English teacher that visited pretty regularly. He was a nice guy.” The receptionist shook her head. “I heard what happened to him when I was watching the news a while back. Terrible, I hope the police find who killed him soon.” She handed the clipboard to him. “I need you to fill these out.” She gestured with a pen to the topmost form that asked for prior medical history. “Also initial these lines, and here, and here.” She flipped through the rest of the forms and showed him the spots to initial before she handed the clipboard and pen with him. “Just hand it back when you’re done.”

“Okay.” Aaron took the clipboard and went to sit in one of the hard plastic chairs by the wall as he mulled over what the receptionist had said. It was probably some kind of HIPAA violation for her to say the things she did, but he couldn’t find it in himself to care about the supposed privacy of dead men when it gave him information that he didn’t otherwise have. He scanned through the list of medical conditions and ticked off ‘yes’ or ‘no’ as necessary.

Aaron mulled over what he had been told in the back of his head. The four previous victims had all been referred by the same doctor to this hospital. The fifth victim worked at this hospital. While it was possible the fifth victim also saw the same referring doctor as the four previous victims, it was more likely that the unsub worked at the hospital. If there was nothing to indicate that the four previous victims had fought back, perhaps the unsub was someone they all trusted.

The door to the ward opened, and woman in scrubs walked out. She stopped by the receptionist’s desk. She chatted with the receptionist for a bit before she looked around at the waiting area. “Joyce Baker?” The elderly woman put away her knitting needles and knitting into a colorful crochet bag at her side. She slowly stood up and ambled leisurely towards the woman. The woman smiled at her and held open the door for her patient. The two made small talk when they passed each other and then the door closed behind them.

His phone rang at just that moment. He pulled it out and grinned wryly when he saw who it was that was calling him. Garcia had probably found the information he asked her to get. He accepted the call. “Hotchner speaking.”

“Hello Hotch, sir,” Garcia’s cheery voice responded from the other end. “So I was looking into the alprabinol link like you asked and I believe I might have found something.”

“Go on.” He looked down at the clipboard in his lap. Everything was filled out. Might as well hand it back while Garcia filled him in on what she had found. He stood up and walked over to the receptionist’s desk.

“Well, it seems like our resident genius was right, Alprabinol creation and distributions is strictly limited. In fact, there’s only two facilities in the US that supplies the drug, one in Missouri and the other’s in Utah. I haven’t found any international facilities that our unsub could have used to get his grimy little hands on it. I’m not sure if there are any, it looks like in Canada and Europe, Alprabinol is banned as an illegal drug-“

Aaron handed the clipboard back to the receptionist before he walked back to his chair. “Garcia, what did you find about whose supplying it?”

“Oh, sorry sir, didn’t mean to get distracted like that.” There was a pause and the sound of typing in the background. “There are really detailed logs for all of this. Let’s see, Galesburg Community, Galesburg Community-“ She trailed for a moment before she continued to speak. “Well, it looks like Galesburg Community gets a standard bi-monthly supply from the Missouri distribution center. Drs. Charles F. Haskin and Samuel Thompson switched off every month in signing for the delivery- oh that’s interesting.”

“What’s interesting?”

There was a pause and the sound of tapping in the background. “Well Hotch, sir, it looks like there was a robbery when Dr. Haskin was signing for the delivery this month. Someone broke into the delivery van and drove off. The-“ Garcia’s voice wavered as she spoke. “-the van looks familiar, it looks like the van that was used to dump the fourth victim’s body.”

“Aaron Hotchner?” Aaron looked up as his name was called. There was the woman in scrubs from before, once again looking around the waiting area. Her gaze fell on him and she gave him a warm smile as she opened the door to the ward a bit wider.

“I’ll- I’ll call you back Garcia.”

“Sir?”

“Sorry, I’m a bit busy right now. Could you update the team with what you found? I have to go, bye.”

“Sir-“ Whatever Garcia meant to say was cut off as Aaron hung up on the call. He stood and fired a quick text message to his subordinate before he shot the nurse a quick, if weak, grin and entered the ward. ‘Dig up any information on Dr. Thompson that you can and send it to the team. I think he might be our unsub.’

……

The soft knock interrupted Aaron’s thoughts. He looked up towards the door as a familiar man with graying hair entered. “Ah,” Dr. Thompson said as he gave him a warm smile. “Hello there Aaron, I’m Dr. Thompson. You’re here for just a standard screen today?”

Aaron nodded slowly as he watched the older man step towards the counter in the back of the room to wash his hands. “Yes, Dr. Reynolds sent me here for secondary screening. I’ve been taking the-“ There was a brief hitch in his voice as the doctor approached him. Alpha, his brain screamed at him when the doctor came to a stop in front of him. The scent was barely noticeable, but the doctor was an Alpha. “-suppressant I’m on for a while and it seems my estrus cycle might have started a week earlier than I had anticipated. Dr. Reynolds suspects it has something to do with the suppressant I’m on and wanted me to come in for a secondary screening.”

Dr. Thompson frowned a bit. The man made a noncommittal noise. “Ah, yes, Dr. Reynolds sends a lot of her patients this way actually, for much the same reason that she sent you. We have a good relationship her and I. Now, I’m going to start with feeling around your neck. If you could just lift your chin up for me a bit. Yes, just like that.” Aaron didn’t react as the doctor pressed firmly around his neck. “Your temperature was a bit high when the nurse measured it, but that’s only to be expected if your estrus is beginning to start up.”

He tried to control his breathing when he felt the doctor trail his fingers towards his scent glands and then rest his fingertips there. He gulped when an unreadable expression came over the doctor’s face. “A lot of Dr. Reynolds’ patients come here for suppressant related reasons?”

It took a while for the doctor to react to the question. He could see the moment when Dr. Thompson realized a question had been asked when the older man blinked for a bit. The look of confusion that formed briefly on his face, and then quickly replaced by one of realization. The doctor smiled warmly at him. (He was beginning to hate that smile.) “Oh, yes. You should know how it is. Omegas get these wonderful suppressants and then they don’t come off of them.” Aaron opened his mouth to say something, but the doctor just waved him off. “Yes, yes, I know all the reasons Omegas give for not stopping them,” the man said with a sigh. “It’s such a shame that society treats Omegas the way they do. Omegas should be free to wander the streets, whether they’re on suppressants or not. People shouldn’t act so-“ The doctor waved his hand around as he searched for the right word. “ _uptight_ about omegas, wandering around. Maybe there would _be_ more omegas around if people let go their petty grievances about them.” A wistful look came over the doctor’s face. “Wouldn’t that be a wonderful thing? The streets filled with Omegas as nature intended it to be?”

Aaron didn’t say a word as the doctor went on his tirade. The doctor should know the reason why Omegas went on suppressants. It had very little to do with how society treated them, something that even Omegas on suppressants faced, and everything to do with the pheromones that Omegas released naturally. The ones that seemed to affect Alphas and attract them to Omegas whether the Omega wanted it or not. Dr. Thompson took in the flat look on Aaron’s face. “No? You, an Omega, don’t want the streets to be filled with more of your people? I find that quite strange.”

“I just don’t feel like making small talk,” Aaron replied with a blank face.

The doctor gave a small nod. “Ah, that’s fair I suppose.” Dr. Thompson pressed down firmly on his scent glands. The unreadable expression crossed over the older man’s face again. Aaron watched the doctor’s face intently. He saw as the doctor’s eyes shone with a cross of emotions and, for a second, it looked as though the doctor was going to lean into him. He shifted his weight back slightly as the doctor blinked and snapped out of whatever strange mood he had fallen into.

“Your scent glands are a bit swollen,” the doctor said as he removed his hands and pointed to the place where his neck met his shoulder. “That’s unsurprising if your cycle is starting as you said that it was. Now, I want you to lie down. I’m going to feel around your belly a bit.”

Aaron grimaced, but did as he was told. Despite the shirt that he was wearing, the doctor’s hands felt cold as he pressed firm circles into his abdomen. He tried not to let his mind wander as the doctor’s hands wandered lower and lower. He tried to ignore how Dr. Thompson seemed to linger on certain areas. “Do you know anything about the crime scene tape that’s warded off on one side of the building? It seemed like someone died there. I overheard some of the nurses talking about what a shame it was that this guy died.”

Dr. Thompson looked over at Aaron as he pressed down sharply into one area. Aaron only gave a faint grunt in response to the action. “Oh,” the doctor asked. “I thought you weren’t interested in making small talk?”

“Humor me, it’s a bit quiet in here.”

Dr. Thompson looked back to where his hands were and began to rub small, slow circles in the area he had pressed. Aaron tried not to think about what it might mean, but reasons began to form in his head from that action and the small tidbits of the doctor’s behavior he had gathered so far. The doctor chuckled. “Oh? Is that so? Hmm, well-“ There was a long pause before the doctor spoke again. “-Chase was a nice man. A good and diligent nurse that I got along very well with. I’d liked to have thought that Chase liked being with me as much as I did with him.”

“Liked to have thought? It sounds like you had a bit of a crush on him then.”

A dark look came over Dr. Thompson’s face. “Hmm, I suppose that’s one way of putting it. Unfortunately it wasn’t to be-“ Aaron didn’t say a word when he felt the doctor’s hands leave him. “-apparently, Chase already had a boyfriend. Did you know that? An omega, at that.” The doctor all but spat out those last words. “He was _so_ happy about his little boyfriend Al too.”

“For someone who wants the streets to be filled with Omegas you don’t seem happy that Chase had an Omega boyfriend,” Aaron couldn’t help but point out. He had all the confirmation he needed, but it didn’t hurt to needle a little bit more out of the man.

Dr. Thompson snorted. “An Omega dating another Omega? Please, Al couldn’t satisfy Chase, not in the way that he _needed_ to be. Chase would have broken up with Al before long, possibly by the time of his next heat while he suffered while his little boyfriend could barely ease it the way an _Alpha_ would.”

Aaron took a deep breath as he thought about what he would tell his team when he returned to them. His thoughts were cut short when he felt the doctor begin to remove his pants. He pushed himself up to glare at the other man. “Hey, what are you doing?!” Of course, he hadn’t thought to bring backup either. He could only hope that Garcia was able to contact his team with the information on Dr. Thompson and they were on their way here.

The doctor had the nerve to smirk at him. Aaron scowled in response. “Oh?” He didn’t like the purr in the doctor’s voice either. “Why I’m just making sure that _this_ is in order, too.” Aaron hissed when he felt a cool finger trace his anus. “You’re going into heat after all aren’t you? It would be a shame if your body wasn’t properly prepared for what that entails.”

Aaron winced when he felt a finger enter him. He kicked as hard as he could at the doctor but his foot was caught. “Now, now, there’s no need to attack me like this when this is all part of standard medical procedure-“ The doctor’s words were cut short when he managed to catch the man in his arm with his other foot. Dr. Thompson grunted and glared at him as he removed the finger and held both of his feet together. “I should have drugged you when I had the chance.”

“Alprabinol,” he asked even as he knew the answer.

The doctor smirked at him. “Oh, but you would know of that wouldn’t you?” The other man leaned over to stroke the side of his face and he flinched away from the touch almost instinctively. The doctor tutted at his action. “Did you know that Dr. Reynolds usually sends over a note when she refers patients to us, Aaron Hotchner? Strange then, that no one could find any communication from her then hmm?” Aaron gulped. He should fight back. Except for his feet, he wasn’t being restrained in any way. If he could get a few good punches in- “Now, I can’t let you go, you’ll just blather to the police everything you know and be the ruin of me, but that doesn’t mean that I can’t have a little fun first. You’re a handsome man, did you know that Aaron? Just like Paul when he was younger-“ The doctor trailed off as he leaned closer towards him.

Aaron lifted his chin, prepared to headbutt him, when the door opened with a bang right at that moment. “Who-“ The doctor didn’t have the chance to finish his question when he saw the gun pointed right at him.

Aaron leaned up to see who it was that entered. He almost sighed in relief at the familiar face. “FBI,” Spencer replied. “Now put your hands up and back slowly off my colleague there.” Spencer advanced slowly on the pair of them.

When the doctor turned around to face Aaron, he was ready for him. He headbutted him as hard as possible before the other man could even speak. When he felt his legs being let go as the man staggered backwards, he drew them back and kicked him as hard in the solar plexus as he could. There was a grunt, followed by a thud as the man fell back onto the floor.

“Reid.” Aaron looked towards his younger colleague as he pulled his pants back up. “I hope you brought handcuffs.” Spencer didn’t respond as he continued to advance on the doctor with his gun drawn. “Reid!”

Spencer looked towards him, his eyes narrowed in rage. “He tried to hurt you, Hotch. If I hadn’t gotten here when I did, he would have-“ He wasn’t able to finish the rest of his sentence as he placed the barrel of his gun right against the doctor’s temple. “You are going to get sent away for a very long time you know that? You are a sick, vile person, and I’m going to enjoy seeing you get locked up behind bars and-“

“Reid!” Aaron hopped off the exam bed and walked quickly over to Spencer. He sent out calming thoughts as he pulled Spencer into a half-embraced, careful to guide Spencer’s head over his scent glands. It would just be like with calming down Jack, he told himself. He made calming noises and focused on his breath, slowly, he felt Spencer begin to feel less tense. “Reid, handcuff him. Don’t waste your breath on him.”

On the floor in front of them, the doctor smirked. “Oh, those lovely omega pheromones at work huh? How do you like them boy? He smells ripe doesn’t he?” The smirk fell off of the doctor’s face when he felt the gun barrel being pressed harder into his temple.

“Shut up. He-“ Aaron shushed Spencer before he could continue and guided the younger man back towards his scent glands. Spencer relaxed when the calming pheromones hit him. He looked at Aaron. “He hurt you, Aaron,” the younger man murmured in a moment of weakness. “How could you let him go like that when he hurt you?”

Aaron sighed when he felt Spencer wrap his free arm around his waist. He rested a hand on the younger man’s head when he felt Spencer bury his face into that place where his neck and shoulder met. “Because I know that he’s going to have to face justice in front of a jury of his peers. I have faith in the courts to do what’s right.” Spencer didn’t say a word, but he felt the man nod.

Aaron was about to say more, but that was when backup and the rest of the team decided to show up. Morgan only raised an eyebrow when he saw the two of them _cuddling_ , for lack of better term, over the unsub. “Okay, I get that you guys are emotional about finding the guy but break it up you two. We’re on the clock here.” Wordlessly, the two released their grasp on one another and stepped aside to let the unsub get handcuffed and dragged away.

Morgan pulled Aaron aside as they watched the unsub get escorted out of the premise. “With all the twists and turns, I would have never thought that that guy was our unsub.” Aaron opened his mouth to respond, but Morgan beat him to the punch. “I suppose that’s the point though isn’t it?”

Aaron nodded. “Our unsub would have been someone who no one would have thought would have been capable of the murders. How else would he have been able to lure and kill five Omegas? Omegas are naturally wary about the people they choose to reveal their condition to, and who they hang out with. For an Omega to feel both comfortable to reveal their secondary sex and to follow someone around, would mean that our unsub would be someone that everyone thought to be too nice to do such a thing.”

“Makes sense.” Morgan nodded. Then there was a pause before Morgan spoke again. “So, uh, you and pretty boy over there-“ He gestured towards Spencer who was talking energetically to JJ. Both Rossi and Emily were listening attentively on. “-is there something I should know about you two?”

Aaron shook his head. “It’s like you said, we got emotional about finding the unsub.”

“Right.” It was clear that Morgan didn’t believe him, but Morgan also knew better than to press the subject. “Well, I have to say that I’m glad to see this one closed. Especially after that last one-“ Morgan trailed off and shot Aaron a wry grin. “-hopefully we’ll catch a bit of a break for the next few days huh?”

“Hopefully.” The two didn’t say another word as they walked off to join the rest of the team. The ward around them slowly falling back into its usual state of affairs as the police wrapped up with their last interviews and began to leave.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ... and that's the end of part 1 of this series. I'm glad that people have seemed to enjoying reading it so far. I don't know when I'll get part 2 up on ao3, I have plans to work on a few other things first, but hopefully it won't be long :')


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